Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

My father was pretty predictable in some ways. For example, if I felt like an argument, all I really needed to do was walk into the room and say something like “Ronald Reagan being elected president was the worst thing that ever happened to this country.”

Sometimes he was really depressed, so I would venture that Richard Nixon was not only a crook and a liar, but that also he looked funny and probably smelled bad. It never failed to lift him out of his depression and sally forth against this pinko-liberal offspring that his wife insisted belonged to him.

And on Valentine’s Day, he would invariably look through the little school valentines and read them out loud: “Be my one true love…signed JOE!” Or “Steve” or whatever.
There were plenty of Nancys, Janes, and Marys as well, but he didn’t pay attention to them.

He believed that the boys should give valentines to the girls, and girls should give valentines to the boys. Frankly, that makes more sense to me too. But of course, popularity is one of those natural concepts that schools and other governmental entities are always trying to fool with, and the result though well-meant ends up being silly.

Some kids are liked more than others. Without any regulation of such practices, some kids will get a boatload of valentines and others won’t get any. Ergo, every kid in the classroom gives every other kid in the classroom a valentine.

Now I see, in my youngest son’s school district anyway, that they don’t exchange valentines at all because it is disruptive and has nothing to do with providing a well-rounded education. I can say this with authority because the school sent a letter home telling me so. It certainly stops people like my dad from having all sorts of sarcastic fun.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day, and Joe, wherever you are, I can only hope you got over me.